Mental Health and Wellbeing at St Bridget's
We actively support and promote positive mental health and wellbeing here at St. Bridget’s Catholic Primary School.
Every child benefits from whole class ‘wellbeing’ sessions and for this we use a mix of approaches which may include yoga, mindfulness, healthy living, therapeutic stories, problem solving, exploring feelings and emotions and use of our Fitter Futures subscription.
At the core of each of these approaches is the importance of giving children a voice, an ear to listen, the space to be, the time to reflect and a range of emotional vocabulary to develop and enhance their emotional literacy. This builds a tool box to help them move on to more positive feelings when sadness, frustration, anger, loneliness or grief are experienced.
Promoting mental health and wellbeing in school includes:
- Designated mental health leads (Mrs Smith and Mrs Taylor)
- Wellbeing governor (Mr Farran)
- All staff trained in understanding mental health
- A pastoral care mentor and ELSA (Mrs Nicholson)
- Whole school assembly to promote and support SEMH
- Worry boxes and slips around school for children to easily request support from a trusted adult
- Circle time sessions in all year groups
- Marking World Mental Health Day and Mental Health Awareness Week in school
- A comprehensive range of health and sporting activities across the curriculum and in after school clubs
Mrs Taylor, Mrs Smith and Mrs Robson (pictured above) all hold a nationally recognised qualification in Understanding Children and Young People's Mental Health.
Top tips to support mental health and wellbeing:
- Be active: go for a walk or run, step outside, cycle, play a game, garden, dance. Exercising makes you feel good so most importantly, discover a physical activity that you enjoy, one that suits your level of fitness and mobility.
- Keep learning: try something new, rediscover an old interest, sign up for that course, take on a different responsibility at work, fix a bike, learn to play an instrument or how to cook your favourite food. Set a challenge you will enjoy achieving, learning new things will make you more confident as well as being fun to do.
- Be giving: do something nice for a friend, or a stranger, thank someone, smile, volunteer your time, join a group, look out, as well as in. Seeing yourself and your happiness, linked to the wider community can be incredibly rewarding and will create connections with the people around you.
- Connect: with the people around you, with family, friends, colleagues and neighbours, at home, work, school or in your local community. Think of these as the cornerstones of your life and invest time in developing them. Building these connections will support and enrich you every day.
- Take notice: be curious, catch sight of the beautiful, remark on the unusual, notice the changing seasons. Savour the moment, whether you are on a train, eating lunch or talking to friends. Be aware of the world around you and what you are feeling, reflecting on your experiences will help you appreciate what matters to you.
- Care for the planet: look after your community and the world. Make small changes to your life that will reduce your energy use, recycle more, leave the car at home, use low energy light bulbs, small steps to a greener life can make a difference.